No.34

It may have taken near three months (see reference 1) and a trip to one of the other islands, but I have finally made it. I have scored a No.34 registration plate, sported by a white Mini Cooper heading west on the A3054, in the vicinity of Quarr Hill. Hands were not free so taking the verification snap was not possible, but I shall count the tweet just the same.

As it happens, we also tweeted the 'Amaryllis' in Portsmouth Harbour, more or less in the same position as it was two years ago, as reported at reference 2. Maybe Portsmouth is its home port, where it rests between charters - to be had for the order of $1,000,000 a week according to reference 4. Which seems rather a lot to spend on a holiday, even for a footballer. Maybe you have to be a Bezos.

We also tweeted 'Scarlet Lady' of reference 4, which we had previously mistaken for a show-off hotel building, leaving the harbour to the accompaniment of loud blasts of her horn. We thought it odd there were no cheering passengers waving from the rails, but a little later she appeared to be parked up in the middle of the Solent. Maybe she was just making way for some more important cruise operator.

From we were, she looked rather like a block of flats set on top of a giant barge, a giant version of the sort of thing you might otherwise see rusting on the banks of the Thames. But no rust to be seen here; all flashy red and white Virgin trim.

The Navy was represented by a large RFA and a small frigate.

There seemed to be a fair amount of aggressive driving about, with one near miss as we went across the top of a T-junction, protected by an invisible roundabout. Much honking and hand abuse from the youthful occupants of another Mini Cooper hitting the junction at speed. This one painted red to suit the tone of the occupants. And then a cross looking lady of middle years stepped out onto an invisible zebra crossing, right in front of me, as I left another roundabout. The way she looked at me, I thought she may have done it on purpose.

PS: I had thought that there was a special nautical term for a ship's railings, particularly the main deck railings of a wooden battleship, but the brain refuses to cooperate this morning and Bing is not helping. The best it can do is reference 5 which talks of balustrades, which to me is stately home rather than tall ship. But there are plenty of cruise ship's railings there.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/04/no33.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/07/epsom-to-firestone-copse-to-brading.html.

Reference 3: https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-25046/amaryllis.htm.

Reference 4: https://www.virginvoyages.com/press/latest-releases/Scarlet-Lady.

Reference 5: https://somechorizon.com/products/item/343-public-areas-balustrades.html.